Adams Wins in Gibraltar; Sasikiran Leading in Moscow

Seven players finished the Gibtelecom tournament in Gibraltar with 7.5/10, but only the top four by TPR (tournament performance rating) went on to the playoff to determine the official victor. In one semi-final Michael Adams squeaked past Jan Gustafsson, while Paco Vallejo Pons beat Sandipan Chanda in the other. In the final, Adams beat Vallejo and won the title. (Official site here.)

Meanwhile in Moscow, Krishnan Sasikiran is in clear first with 6 out of 7, half a point ahead of Konstantin Chernyshov, Evgeny Bareev, Le Quang Liem, Ernesto Inarkiev, Viktor Bologan and Farrukh Amonatov. There are two rounds to go and the official site is here.

And now for your amusement: I was watching the live games from Moscow earlier today, off and on, and noticed this great moment in pawn grabbing from the women's event:

Tatiana Grabuzova (2345) - Xue Zhao (2504)

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Bg4 3.Nf3 Bxf3 4.exf3 e6 5.f4 Nf6 6.Qe2 Bd6 7.Qb5+ Nc6 8.Qxb7 Nb4 9.Bb5+ Ke7 10.Bd3 a6 0-1

Comments

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Looks like Lenderman banked another GM norm performance at Gibraltar. Hopefully he'll get his GM title approved soon.